Balwin j KROBER Jr

[fred92290]

Hi

 

I own a pair of tags that belonged to Balwin KROBER

Member of 353 Sp Bomb, 301st Bomb GP

Balwin KROBER is on the wall of missing in cimetery of Draguignan (France)

Can you help me to put a face on this Hero???

(I hope you understand i have a bad english sorry)

 

Many thanks

 

Fred

 

 

[268th C.A.]

Were from here and still cant speak it properly, Ha

[Allan H.]

Fred,

 

I'm afraid that I have hit a brick wall on this one. My father is from a small town in Western Kansas so I decided that I would see if I could get some help in finding a photo of LT Krober. I started with the city's library which is only open a couple of days a week from 5 to 7 pm. I could never get anyone to pick up the phone. Ensign is a town of around 185 people. It is REALLY small. I next called the Cimarron which is a little bit bigger. A very nice lady there actually drove to Ensign and asked around. Nobody had ever heard of Baldwin Krober Jr. or the Krober family. She went through all of the high school yearbooks at the library and the class photos at the local school. She finally had someone suggest that they thought that he might have been from the town of Ford over in the next county. Since Ford was in the next county, she called me and suggested that I contact someone else.

 

The city of Ford is also pretty small. 216 people in the 2010 census. The town's schools shut down many years ago and consolidated with the city of Bucklin- 794 people in the 210 census. I got hold of another lady in the city clerk's office. She went to the local newspaper, the library, and to the local retirement home. Nobody that she talked to could recall Baldwin Krober Jr or the Krober family.

 

In the meantime, I searched for him and the only thing that I could find showed him as being from Kingfisher, Oklahoma. The American Battle Monuments site lists him as being from there as well. This has been frustrating for me as I had really hoped to be able to surprise you with at least a high school graduation photo. Unfortunately, I have come up empty in my searches for him. I'll keep looking and hoping that somebody eventually remembers LT Krober, but I haven't had any luck thus far.

 

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

Allan

[fred92290]

Allan

 

sorry for my bad english

I'm very touched by your support and THANKS YOU!!!!!

I decided to give tags at the cemetery of DRAGUIGNAN FRANCE

I hope they will be a honor for this HERO

 

THANKS FOR ALL

[SallyMae]

Dear Fred02290 - I am the great niece of Baldwin Julius Krober. I am stunned that you have our dear "Uncle Julius" dog tags. All of the eye-witness military accounts that we have ever been given is that my great uncle and his fellow airmen were never recovered after their P-38 was shot down during his mission on 21 January 1944 to Solon De 'Province Airdrome, France.  The reason his dog tags say "Ensign, Kansas" is not because he was born or raised there. He was Oklahoma born and raised. They say Ensign, Kansas because Baldwin Julius Krober (whom we know as "Uncle Julius") was living with his oldest sister, my grandmother, Beaulah Krober Bergen, and her family prior to being enlisted. That family included my father who is still alive at 93 and still misses his Uncle Julius. 

 

Please, I am hoping you can tell us how you came to be in possession of our Uncle Julius's dog tags! Did he actually survive his P-38 going down? Or, were his remains recovered? Do you by any chance still have these dog tags and/or did you leave them at the Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial? Any and all information you can provide about the provenance of Baldwin Julius Krober's dog tags would be deeply appreciated.

 

I am humbled by my Uncle Julius's ultimate sacrifice and truly honored to be related to him. I have attached the only photo I have of him in his uniform.

 

Respectfully,

Sally 

[SallyMae]

Chère Fred02290, je suis la petite-nièce de Baldwin Julius Krober. Je suis stupéfaite que vous ayez nos chères plaques d'identité « Oncle Julius ». Tous les témoignages militaires que nous avons recueillis indiquent que mon grand-oncle et ses camarades aviateurs n'ont jamais été retrouvés après que leur P-38 a été abattu lors de sa mission le 21 janvier 1944 à l'aérodrome de Solon De'Province, en France. Si ses plaques d'identité portent la mention « Ensign, Kansas », ce n'est pas parce qu'il y est né ou y a grandi. Il est né et a grandi en Oklahoma. On dit « Ensign, Kansas » parce que Baldwin Julius Krober (que nous appelons « Oncle Julius ») vivait avec sa sœur aînée, ma grand-mère, Beaulah Krober Bergen, et sa famille avant son engagement. Parmi cette famille figurait mon père, toujours en vie à 93 ans, qui regrette encore son oncle Julius.

 

S'il vous plaît, j'espère que vous pourrez nous dire comment vous êtes tombé en possession des plaques d'identité de notre oncle Julius ! A-t-il survécu au crash de son P-38 ? Ou bien ses restes ont-ils été retrouvés ? Auriez-vous encore ces plaques d'identité ou les auriez-vous laissées au cimetière américain du Rhône ? Toute information que vous pourriez nous fournir sur la provenance des plaques d'identité de Baldwin Julius Krober serait grandement appréciée.

Je suis profondément touché par le sacrifice ultime de mon oncle Julius et profondément honoré d'être son parent. Je joins la seule photo que je possède de lui en uniforme.

 

Respectueusement,

Sally

 

[byBen]

Hi Sally,

Thank you for sharing a bit of your family’s story and the photo of your Uncle Julius, great picture by the way.

 

Fred doesn’t own these tags anymore, I do. I purchased them about 2 years ago from a French militaria dealer, and at the time they were unidentified again, even after being posted here for discussion.

 

He was serving on a B-17 when it was shot down over the sea off southern France, not a P-38. These tags are from an earlier stage of his service. His enlistment period to be exact and would not have been the ones he was wearing during the final mission.

 

As for recovery, unfortunately, when airmen were lost at sea, there were often no remains recovered due to the nature of the circumstances and the limitations of search and recovery at the time.

 

I attach a photo of your great uncles dog tags: 

Regards 

- Ben

[SallyMae]

Hi Ben - I am curious how you know these were the tags issued to my Uncle Julius upon enlistment? As for the P-38, that is taken from reports provided by the military, so I appreciate your revision to a different type of plane. I have since found out he flew on 33 previous missions, but this too is from the official reports and hope that it is true. Whilst it may not even be feasible or reasonable for me to ask this, would you consider selling these tags?  I don't know if militaria items can even be sent from one country to the next (I am in central Texas, USA). My father was a little boy when Uncle Julius lived on their farm in Ensign, Kansas. My dad, still alive and living independently, still loves his Uncle Julius. Even to this day at his age of 93 (soon to be 94), my dad keeps two photos of Uncle Julius prominently displayed in the apartment in which he lives -- I would say possibly even more prominent than photos of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren!

Thank you so very, very much for your response and for considering my questions.

Regards,

Sally